Architecture of a Post Capitalist Society

Abstract

Research question: How will architecture respond to the second machine age? Architecture of a Post Capitalist Society: the investigation of current economic ideologies, developing sociological philosophy and emerging technologies to form a speculative world-of-the-future. Architecture is a tool for solving one of the most comprehensive challenges facing humanity and questions how society will respond. A series of investigations into economic wave theory through to the radical speculative design of the 1960s hopes to create a realistic response. By keeping this project within the realm of speculative reality, this research aspires to envisage a response which doesn’t deviate too far from modern life, but appears more evolutionary. The result is the formation of a speculative reality in response to the approaching industrial revolution, also known as the second machine age. Described as fully automated luxury communism, this new reality is one that current architecture is unsuited for, and a solution to the potential loss of fifty percent of existing jobs through automation is sought. This thesis does not provide a definitive answer to the architecture of the future, instead offers an idea that seeks to provoke thought and discussion. With infinite consequences of automation and artificial intelligence (AI), this thesis designs a unique path to explore and help inform the desired future of others.